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MAY 2003 ARCHIVE

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• 5/31/03, 1:50 p.m.: Happy happy joy joy.

Haha, kudos to anyone who can place that quote =) So you may be asking yourself why there's a picture of a dead-looking plant here--well, this is no ordinary plant. This is a stem segment from a dieffenbachia that I cut up last summer, and I have had this little stub planted in this pot for almost a YEAR (to the day), diligently watering it when I could remember, and hoping that someday it would sprout. Sure enough, about a week ago a shoot finally made it's way out of the dirt. I'm sure that has to be some kind of a record for growing a cutting. At any rate, it really made my day.

• 5/30/03, 9:32 a.m.: Lame II.

Yesterday I moved all my stuff from the apartment back home, and I think every muscle in the upper half of my body is feeling the hurt this morning. What really sucks is that I have to spend the whole afternoon cleaning the apartment so I can get the carpet cleaned tomorrow. Ugh. It's going to be the big suck, but it will be nice to have it done, I guess. Also, it feels good to be home, but I can't shake the feeling of how weird it is. I'm sure it won't bother me at all once I realize how much money it's going to save me, though =)

• 5/28/03, 10:00 a.m.: Car trouble is lame.

So now that I'm on my third car in as many days, I guess I kind of know what Andy feels like with his bmw always being in the shop. The avenger went in yesterday morning to get the power steering fixed and some emissions control replaced, so I was driving around in the old-school cavalier. That was kind of fun; it was like being in a time machine since it had been at least a few years since I'd last driven it. However, it decided to crap out in the parking lot outside Jess and Ben's apt last night, so I am currently driving Jess's nova, which he was nice enough to let me borrow for the day. I'm hoping the cavalier just needs to be jumped or something, because otherwise this whole situation is just getting real lame real fast. That, and I realize now I need to hurry up and move home so I can start biking to work and not have to mess around with cars...

• 5/26/03, 8:25 p.m.: Blah...

I made it back from Clear Lake in one piece, and it was good times, as is usually the case. We had no boat, but that didn't matter because the fishing was abnormally good right off the dock (me and Jafar hauled in over 100 fish between us, though the quality of those fish is certainly questionable.) We also played the usual crazy games of Risk, and Jafar's "casino" was open for business both nights, too. All in all it was a fun time, and a big thanks goes to Ross and his parents for having us.

In lamer news, I have until next Saturday to move out of my apartment and get it cleaned up. So today has not been much fun, as I have been trying to stay motivated enough to keep packing and boxing stuff up. Very much NOT FUN; I will be super glad when this whole moving thing is done and I can move on with my life.

• 5/22/03, 11:49 p.m.: El jugador de futbol.

Well, the last couple of nights I have made my not-so-triumphant return to the game of soccer. At some point recently I realized how much I really missed playing, and so I've found a way to get back to doing that. Twice a week (or so) I'll play with the ISU club soccer folks who get together at the youth complex and play pick-up ball. It will be kickin' rad. I played yesterday and was a bit rusty, but that will change I hope. Tonight I was a disgrace, though, at the "alumni" game at ames high. This prestigious game pits any lazy ahs alums who might be in town against the current varsity team. We held our own, but still lost by a good margin. Ah well, it was a good time, even if a bit frustrating. ...Um, yeah so that's what has been going on in my exciting life this week =P

• 5/21/03, 1:20 a.m.: Good ol' ebay.

I know some of you have already seen this, but whowouldbuythat.com is the coolest thing I've seen in awhile. And it's especially cool to an ebay junkie like myself, though I hope I'm not on there somewhere...

By the way, happy birthdays to Lisa (yesterday) and Andy (today) =)

• 5/19/03, 12:35 p.m.: Slow news day.

Not much going on after a pretty lively weekend in which I made a short excursion with Ross to IC for Hoon's graduation. Also got to see Brent on Friday, and Brian moved home this weekend, too (although I was disappointed he hadn't bought Dynasty Warriors 4 yet). So today is kind of a downer after all that "excitement".

I guess Larry made Page2 again, although he's not the sole focus of the article (and it's pretty funny, anyway.) As of this posting, he was in a three-way tie for 5th biggest jerk of the century with Najeh Davenport and Abe Pollin =P

• 5/16/03, 12:20 p.m.: "I love cursing in French..."

Well, Matrix Reloaded was definitely worth the wait, and I think it lived up to most of the hype it was getting, anyway. Certainly not a great movie from a movie standpoint, but it included (much like the last one) some absolutely stunning special effects. Although a lot of the human vs. human fights were obviously done with the aid of CG (but were still cool nonetheless), the highway-chase scene was done INSANELY well. Involved some impossible camera/stunt work, but did not appear that "unrealistic", if you will. Maybe that's why it took them nearly four years to make the sequel--they had to wait for that scene to finish rendering =) At any rate, the movie was definitely worth watching, though I could have done without that lame Zion danceclub/orgy thing at the beginning (one of those "where the hell did that come from?" kind of moments.) I really want to see it again, if for no other reason than to take in the SFX glory of the chase scene, and to figure out if the conversation at the end actually held some meaning or if the old dude just used a lot of flowery phrases. Yeah, so that's my two cents.

• 5/15/03, 1:55 p.m.: Der tag.

Today is the day that we have been waiting for ever since the first Matrix came out something like 4 years ago, for tonight we go to Matrix II at 7:30pm (a mere 5 1/2 hours from now). And I don't care what the naysayers think, I am still really pumped to see it. Also, a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to SAM, who got his grades back today and managed to graduate this semster. Way to go Sam!

• 5/14/03, 6:40 p.m.: A geek's delight

This week, I wish I was here. It's gotta be about the biggest video game expo on the planet, though I have no idea how big the Tokyo Game Show is. All I know is that some cool stuff is going down, like: Zelda: Four Swords for GC, FF Tactics, and a game I'm especially looking forward to, Sword of Mana. Yay! Check out ign.com's web page for a complete list of upcoming games being shown at E3, including stuff like Gran Turismo 4, yet another Castlevania game, World of Warcraft, Mario 3 for GBA, etc. And this is only the first day =)

• 5/14/03, 1:00 a.m.: Return of the king

...Or at least the return of #isu. Diesel is up and running now, and I assume it's only a matter of time before the whole DNS thing gets updated and we can get back to "normal." For now it's sitting headless under my desk at VRAC, very incognito since it doesn't make much noise. I suppose I should buy a monitor for it at the UP tomorrow so I can actually use it if needed...

Also, a big congrats to Steve, who should, by the time any of you read this tomorrow, have an AlBook in his possession. And by the way, Sam, thanks for the coffee--it is awesome =)

• 5/11/03, 10:33 p.m.: Woohoo

Well, I guess as of tomorrow, summer officially starts. It feels really good to have finals done (even if I didn't do as well as I would have liked), so now it's time to get my employment situation taken care of. I had that Baker Group "interview" last Friday, but the VP who was supposed to be there later in the afternoon was unable to make it, so I'll probably have to go back sometime this week for another interview. Oh, well. For now I work at VRAC, I guess.

In other news...we need to get Diesel put up quickly because I miss #isu (dammit, make it work Andy!!) I also see that Lisa has mentioned that the Matrix has a midnight showing -- mmmm, can't wait . . .

• 5/9/03, 12:20 a.m.: Summer, and not a moment to soon

Ack. One hectic day stands between me and the relative freedom of summer: I have my 421 final tomorrow morning, which Ross assures me is a piece of cake (but keep in mind this was the class in which I slept through the midterm and was awarded with a 37% on the exam); I have to squeeze in time to sign a lease for next year's apartment before lunch time; and I have a job interview in Des Moines at 2pm, and everyone knows how much fun interviews are on Friday afternoons. I really just want tomorrow to be done with so I can move on. By the way, congrats to Steve, Ross, Lisa (and hopefully Sam!) for successfully completing their undergraduate careers. Nice work, everyone =)

• 5/7/03, 7:37 p.m.: Final Round.

Given all the crazy events involving the whole Larry fiasco last week, as well as his disappointing (but classy) resignation earlier this week, I suppose it's time for me to put up one last post on the issue. And, since I am an engineer and have great difficulty communicating with the rest the world in words, I have derived the following equation which describes how I feel as of today on the whole thing:

No more Larry
+ No more Jafar
+ A crooked athletic administration (or maybe it's just the AD...)
+ No more "Voice of the Cyclones" Pete Taylor =(
----------------------------------
= No more reason for Ben to cheer for CloneBall in the immediate future, if ever

At the moment I feel zero loyalty to ISU athletics, after having been burned big time last week. They will not get a cent from me until something good happens. I'll still have to support the football team from afar I suppose, but basketball is out of the question. What with ISU being my future alma mater and all, I will probably always feel a little loyalty, I guess, but for right now, I need a new basketball team to cheer for. Whenever and wherever LE resurfaces, and assuming he's cleaned himself up, I will support his team. Good luck, Larry.

• 5/5/03, 3:11 p.m.: "Leave us. The dog eats strangers..."

Wow, it's been a busy day already. Got a lot to say (not necessarily important, though), so I'll start blabbering now...

Took my two biggest finals today, including the monster heat transfer final at 7:30am (I set THREE alarms to make sure I didn't sleep though it, heh heh), and the history one this afternoon. I feel like I smoked 'em both, but then again, I've felt that way before and ended up pretty disappointed. However, I studied my ass off for these over the weekend, so I'd hope to do well...and I haven't felt this good about finals for a long time.

As the picture shows, in supoprt of L.E. today I wore my Larry-esque addidas mock-turtleneck(TM). Not only that, I was SO cool that I wore it with shorts so I could make a fashion statement AND support the coach at the same time =P Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Larry's gonna win this battle, as it sounds like he's not even going to appeal his firing. It's really too bad ... but I'll have a good rant on this later, I'm sure.

Hmm, I think I might almost have more hair than he does...

Haha, I was going to point out the fact that I've updated more than Andy this month (by one), but seeing as he was cool enough to do a "tribute" to my "creative" headlines, I won't make an issue of it. Thanks for having a sense of humor, Andy ;-)

Congratulations, Steve!!!

• 5/4/03, 11:00 p.m.: Round III.

I'm currently watching SoundOff, and I have to say it's been interesting so far. I'm really enjoying the fact that LE has the Round Guy in his corner. Also in significant news today, everyone's favorite ex-student manager had his 15 seconds of fame extended to an article in the Sunday Des Moines Register (see "Manager Who Backs Coach Is Out" ). Go Jafar =)

• 5/2/03, 10:47 a.m.: It's go-time.

I just got done with my last lecture of the semester. Woohoo =) However, my fears were confirmed in class this morning when I found out that I do indeed have my heat transfer final Monday morning at 7:30am. So this weekend is going to be pretty rough, as I have my history final on Monday, too. Yuck.

You all should check out ign.com's countdown of the Top 100 Games of All-time. Obviously I'm not going to agree with everything they pick, but can you believe that Secret of Mana (#78), which was easily the best reason for owning an SNES multi-tap, got beat out by any of the games from yesterday (#61-70), including the likes of such classics as Sam and Max Hit the Road, and Tobal2!? It's an outrage! =P

• 5/1/03, 7:35 p.m.: "Don't tease the octopus, kids!"

I finished up my last lab report of the semester last night, and with any luck, it'll be the last one I have to do for the rest of my undergraduate career. I feel like I've done about a hundred of 'em this semester alone, and they get SO old after awhile. Other than that, things have been rather quiet lately. I noticed Spirited Away is at the dollar theatre tonight, but for some reason, it's gone tomorrow after being listed as a "new" movie this week. It's a shame it's leaving so soon, I kinda wanted to see it in the theatres.